Tyson Stengle (born 19 October 1998) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Geelong Cats in the Australian Football League (AFL). Stengle played junior representative football with Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL and represented South Australia at national championships at under 18 level. He was drafted by the Richmond Tigers in the 2017 rookie draft, made his AFL debut in round 15, 2017 and was traded to the Adelaide Crows in the 2018 trade period. He was delisted by Adelaide prior to the 2021 AFL season, but proceeded to join the Geelong Cats in 2022, winning the premiership with them that year. Stengle lives with Eddie Betts in Melbourne.
Early life and junior football
Stengle was taken in by his grandmother, Debra, at the age of four after he and his brother were removed by the state from the care of their parents. He later lived with grandparents Emily and Cecil Betts after Debra died. He spent his teenage years in the northwestern Adelaide suburb of Ethelton where he completed secondary schooling at Le Fevre High School.
Stengle first played football for the local Portland Football Club at under 10s level. There he played in over 100 matches across his junior years.
As a teenager he was a member of 's Aboriginal AFL Academy.
Stengle played state-league football with Woodville-West Torrens in the South Australian National Football League. He played 10 matches for the reserves team in 2016 and kicked 22 goals, while he kicked 13 in nine matches with the club's Under 18 team that same season. He was a member of the Eagles' reserves Grand Final team in 2016.
In 2016 he represented South Australia at the National Under 18 Championships. There he ranked second among all small-forwards for Champion Data ranking points per game. Stengle was also the fourth ranked of all South Australians by the same measure that tournament. He was labelled "quick, creative, innovative and classy" by The Age draft writer Emma Quayle for his performances in the championships. The Advertiser's Andrew Capel said Stengle possessed "brilliant skills, blistering pace and a love of tackling and applying ferocious forward pressure." Stengle recorded a top 10 score in the goalkicking test at the national draft combine in 2016.
AFL career
Richmond (2017–2018)
Stengle was drafted by with the club's first pick and the sixth selection overall in the 2017 AFL rookie draft.
Stengle played in the early part of the 2017 season with Richmond's reserves side in the VFL. He was a key forward-line player for the side, kicking 13 goals in his first eight matches. He was upgraded to the club's senior list in June 2017. He made his AFL debut two weeks later in Richmond's round 15 win over at the Adelaide Oval where he kicked two goals in the match. He played again the following match but was omitted from the team's round 17 side to play the week after. From there he returned to the club's reserves side, playing with the team through to their finals campaign. There he played in each of their three victories, and in the team's losing grand final against Port Melbourne. Stengle finished the 2017 season having played two matches and kicked two goals at senior level. He also played 19 matches in the reserves and kicked 33 goals, good for the second most at the club and sixth most in the league.